Is This How We ‘Turn Up’?: A Sober Perspective on Genesis All Black

Is This How We ‘Turn Up’?: A Sober Perspective on Genesis All Black

I can’t say much about Genesis. Not because I genuinely can’t remember (this was a struggle for many of you) but because the Genesis kind of groove was just not made for me. I must admit that I’m not one to move with the times so I’m going to ask, is this how we turn up? If it is, I’m ok, thanks. But at least now I know how the swaggiest Joburgers like to do it. Thank you for your beautiful bodies, faces and attire. And sorry for the crazy darting eyes, I clearly don’t live a life of aesthetic privilege. Rookie error.

Although ‘The Scene’ is no place for me, partly because it reminds me of high school, the fact is, it exists and it’s showing no signs of ever leaving us. I read about High School Cool, contemplated Pyjama Party and dirtied up my boots at Genesis amongst every single person I know in Johannesburg, literally. That’s social power right there. All those bodies in all black with no real marketing, no sponsors, just Twitter hype (they trended twice in 7 days in SA!!!). These guys are definitely onto something that they’ve been on for a minute. What I can’t figure out is what their ‘edge’ is. Is it just a case of a clique that throws incestuous parties for their friends and their friends friends? Is it actual ‘celebrity’ put to productive use? Or is it really a reproduction of high school, with the cool kids and the wannabes who can’t sit with the cool kids, but keep trying anyway, until they get a spot on the team and can’t ever leave for fear of returning to the shadows.

Perhaps my inclination to over-analyse, along with my sobriety, and my general scepticism of hype by the masses resulted in a genuine groove flying right over my head. Probably. Twitter tells a different story than mine and Twitter doesn’t lie, right? I’m not quite ready to be the ‘The Girl Who Couldn’t Turn Up’ so I’m going to keep trying the same thing and expecting a different result. Why? Because if I’m right – which I am – about this being grown-up high school, it’s peer pressure. But because I think I’m bigger than that, I’m just going to blame my journalistic curiosity.

2 Comments

Let’s just say; I will not be there NEXT YEAR. What a traumatic experience. Spent it in a queue trying to get back inside; suffice to say that I was no different from the masses who decided to arrive fashionably late. And judging by the music I heard from the parking lot; I did not miss much.

This KOOL KID syndrome is killing the Joburg Party scene. Somebody come up with a party, where people actually party and not come looking like they wanna be seen. We get it, you are instragrammable.. what happened to just great music and good booze??